


you are the best thing & the worst thing (that's happened to me this whole year)

by tophsgf



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, and they were ROOMMATES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24309967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tophsgf/pseuds/tophsgf
Summary: Gina's roommate Nini is unbearable. What's more unbearable, however? Her very charismatic and totally off-limits sort-of boyfriend.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 86





	you are the best thing & the worst thing (that's happened to me this whole year)

**Author's Note:**

> based on [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18381569) :)  
> title is from senior year by anthony amorim!

Gina’s never had the best luck with roommates. In high school, she stayed with a friend for her junior year, a decision she quickly came to regret when she realized they had vastly different ideas of what time to go to bed, and in senior year, her roommate was her grandmother. Who had seven cats. Honestly, though, she’d go back to living with Ashlyn or Nana Porter in a second if it meant she could move out of the apartment she shares with Nini Salazar-Roberts. 

Gina wouldn’t have even been in this situation if she wasn’t so desperate for a roommate before rent was due. Her last roommate, Carlos, had moved out after getting engaged to his boyfriend, which was great for Carlos and his happiness but terrible for Gina and her stress levels. Still, when Carlos said he had a friend interested in moving to the city and in need of a place, Gina jumped on the opportunity. She probably should have asked more questions, met Nini ahead of time, but she was desperate. And Carlos was very trustworthy. 

Or so she thought. What Carlos had neglected to mention, when he had talked Nini up as his favourite person ever, was that she had been raised with very little woe or need for independence. In other words, she expects most things to be done for her. 

She’s not a shitty person, she’s actually decently sweet, at least, Gina thinks she is? Nini has a way of making every interaction into a dramatic exchange of dialogue. Like Nini’s the protagonist of some teen movie with a 40% score on Rotten Tomatoes and Gina is the best friend. Which is not a role she has any particular interest in filling, especially for Nini.

It’s not Nini’s social tendencies that make her a bad roommate. Gina can deal with drama. Carlos Rodriguez was her roommate for three years, so she’s been through it all. No, what makes Nini a bad roommate is her disregard for anyone but herself. 

For example, last week Gina came home from work at around 8:30 PM. Instead of finding a peaceful apartment, she found a Glee watch party in full swing. It’s Nini’s apartment too, she’s obviously allowed to have people over, but Gina would really like some advance notice the next time a clique of drunk and loud and very pretentious theatre students are going to crowd her living room and throw their coats on her bed. 

But it’s fine. Really, nobody’s perfect. It’s just that Nini has a lot of… imperfections that make Gina’s general existence harder. She’s not very clean, so Gina does most of the housework, and she’s also a terrible cook. But it’s fine. They eat at different times anyway, mostly because Gina avoids her, but still. Everything Nini does could be excused, really, it could. 

Except there’s the singing. At every possible hour of the day. And unlike Nini, whose entire life is funded by her rich parents, Gina has to work two jobs. With that, plus school, she comes home exhausted, too tired to do anything but collapse into her bed. But Nini is always singing. And the walls are thin, so she hears everything. Every note, every song she writes (yes, she fancies herself a songwriter), every attempt at whistle tones. 

One night, Nini borrowed a microphone and amp from Carlos (who is slowly rising on Gina’s hit list) and performed a mini-concert for her theatre nerd friends. 

The day after that impromptu performance, Gina had EJ and Carlos over for a Love Island marathon. While they were watching, Nini came out of her room with a whiteboard which had “PLEASE BE QUIETER AND TELL ME NEXT TIME YOU WANT SOMEONE TO COME OVER” written on it. Apparently she was on self-prescribed vocal rest. Stupid Carlos and EJ with their stupid engagement. 

Sometimes, having a roommate means making sacrifices. 

For example, when Gina walks into the kitchen at 7:30 AM because she doesn’t want to risk interacting with Nini, who usually wakes up after 11, sure, but Gina has to play it safe. Wouldn’t want her existence threatening Nini’s vocal ability.

Today, however, the kitchen is not empty. Today, there is a random guy in a beige sweater which Gina has to admit looks very soft. His back is to her, but she thinks he’s cleaning the floor? So, probably not a robber and/or murderer.

“Hi.” She says, “who are you?” Beige sweater guy spins around, makes eye contact with her. 

_Damn._ He’s cute. Soft brown curls and beautiful brown eyes, a smirk on his face like she’s the one who has to explain her intentions. Also, he’s holding a mop. Gina bets Nini doesn’t even know what that is. 

“Hi.” Beige sweater says. “I’m Ricky, Nini’s not-boyfriend.”

“Not boyfriend?” 

“Not boyfriend.” He repeats, like it’s obvious. “And I’m obviously mopping. With this mop.”

“Why?” Nini lives here and she doesn’t clean, but apparently the guy she’s seeing is Mary Poppins? Stupid. Carlos. And. His. Stupid. Engagement. 

“Nini’s still sleeping, there’s nothing else to do,” he replies, shrugging. “Want me to stop?”

“Whatever.” Gina isn’t trying to be terrible, but Ricky is Nini’s… whatever. So he probably sucks just as much as she does. “I don’t care.”

“Did I somehow offend you?” Ricky’s tone is serious but his eyebrows are raised and she swears she can see a smile forming in the corners of his mouth. “Sorry, not sorry.” He says, and Gina spins around, determined to give him a piece of her mind. 

Except he’s just reading off the back of her shirt, something Carlos brought her after he saw the musical _Six._ She doesn’t wear it very often, mostly for fear something like this would happen, but it’s 7:30 AM in her own kitchen. Gina isn’t exactly dressed for company.

If Ricky sees her second-guessing her appearance, he doesn’t say anything about it. All he does is grin and go back to mopping the floor. Stupid helpful Ricky. 

“Whatever.” She doesn’t have any better retort to make, Ricky clearly knows this from the way he stifles a laugh. “I’m going out to get breakfast. Mop our stupid floor.”

Gina goes to the front door to grab her coat and keys, then stops. “Only if you want to clean our floor, that is.” What? She can’t be entitled like Nini, that’d just be hypocritical.

“It’s my pleasure,” Ricky says, “have a good day.”

“Whatever!” Gina yells back, which is as terrible a retort as it was when she used it two minutes ago, and two minutes before that. Clearly, Ricky knows this too, because this time he doesn’t bother stifling his laughter as she goes out the door. 

Gina figures that’s the last she’ll see of beige sweater boy, but she comes home after class a week later and there he is. On her couch, watching Pride and Prejudice. The 2005 version with the Darcy with the bad hairline. 

“Hi.” She’s not any better at talking to him today than she was last week, even though she should probably be more prepared. “Why are you here?”

“Watching a movie.” Ricky says, like Gina should know better than to ask. “Obviously.” He grins, and it makes Gina hyper-aware of her heart beating in her chest. Stupid Ricky. 

“This isn’t even the best Austen adaptation.”

“Huh?”

“Are you gonna stop taking up the whole couch so I can sit or..?” Gina doesn’t mean to sound so harsh, but it works, cause Ricky moves his legs and scooches over. She tries to sit as far away from him as possible. Doesn’t want her existence to somehow inconvenience Nini. 

“You don’t like me.” Ricky says, sounding amused.

“Not really.” Gina replies. No use in hiding a disdain that has already been quite obvious. 

“Aw.”

“Sorry.” She isn’t.

“Why, can I ask?”

“Nini is sort of unbearable, and you’re dating her.” She isn’t looking at Ricky, instead electing to focus on the tv screen, but she can feel Ricky grin at that. 

“We’re not dating.”

“Uh-huh.” She rolls her eyes. “But you’re literally here to take her somewhere.”

“I could be her chauffeur,” Ricky offers. Gina tries (and fails) not to smile. “Fine, you’re right. We’re going to a party. You could come if you want.”

Gina assumes the cursed theatre kids will be there, and she would rather endure seven back to back performances of Cats than have to interact with them again. “No thanks.”

“Your loss, Nini’s roommate.” 

“Do you not know my name?”

“Not like you introduced yourself last time.”

“You were a stranger mopping my floor. You could have asked Nini.”

“Nini does most of the talking.” Gina grimaces at that. She can’t help it. 

After a beat of silence, she decides to tell Ricky her name. “Gina.” She says. “That’s my name.”

“Gina.” Ricky echoes, grinning. “Good name.”

“Thanks.” Gina rolls her eyes, tries to fight the blush she knows must be creeping onto her cheeks. “Can we keep watching? I wanna see Mr. Collins propose to Elizabeth.”

“Obviously,” Ricky says, “the breakfast scene is one of my favourites. He’s so short.”

“Agreed.” 

They’re nearly at that part of the movie when Nini emerges from her room, wearing an outfit that Gina can only describe as a slightly aged up version of the wardrobe of an entire Justice store. “C’mon, Ricky!” She singsongs, ignoring Gina’s existence. Unsurprising. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Ricky replies, getting up from the couch. Gina tries to ignore the pang of disappointment, which fades as he turns to her. “Don’t watch the rest without me, okay?”

“Okay.” She says. Ricky grins. 

Nini tugs him out the door and they’re gone. 

Gina doesn’t hear them get in that night, but she assumes they came home together, as Ricky is at her kitchen table when she walks out of her room in the morning. He’s eating a bagel. Probably her bagel, because Nini doesn’t buy groceries. Her moms send her Skip The Dishes every day, or something. Gina isn’t quite sure how the rich live. 

“Good morning, Gina.” He says her name like it’s something important to him. Gina doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“Hi.” She replies, sitting down across from him once she’s gotten a cup of orange juice from the refrigerator. “How was the party?”

“Theatre students can be very pretentious,” he says in lieu of a response, and Gina almost spits out her orange juice trying not to laugh. 

“Right?”

“One of them had the entire script of The Crucible memorized. Why? When would that come in handy?”

“I don’t know,” Gina doesn’t bother to hide her laughter this time. “I’m sure they have some scenario in mind. Did they recite it to you?”

“No, thank God.” Ricky pauses for a moment, which Gina takes as an opportunity to take another sip of her orange juice. It’s probably the last cup she’ll be able to have before she needs to buy more, because somehow Nini always drinks it all before Gina can have more than two glasses of it. “Gina?”

She feels her heart leap. Stupid heart. “Yeah?”

“Why are you Nini’s roommate if you don’t like her?”

“I needed a roommate? My best friend-slash-former roommate said she was awesome, and I believed him. Now I realize he may have been slightly delusional.”

“You could kick her out.”

“But then I’d risk hearing a sad rendition of the songs from _Rent_. And I would rather die.”

“Fair.”

“Trust me, if I could move out, I would. But my only other friends in the city are engaged to each other, and I can’t afford to live alone.” 

“Too bad.”

“Yeah, it sucks. It’s whatever. So.” She’s desperate to change the subject. “What’s your deal? Like, what do you do when you’re not here?”

“I’m studying music.” Ricky says. “I want to be a music teacher, maybe. Haven’t really decided yet. What about you?” It’s small talk, but it still feels easy. Talking with Ricky is like that. 

“I’m a dancer, mostly ballet.” Gina sighs. “But I’m going to university for psychology. Because I’ll age out of dance soon, or something. That’s what I’ve been told.” 

“Show me some moves?” He asks, and Gina laughs. 

“You wish.” 

Somehow, they end up migrating over to the living room, with her laying upside down on the couch and Ricky on the floor. They finish Pride and Prejudice, and Ricky suggests they watch Sense and Sensibility next time. Gina doesn’t comment on the idea of a ‘next time’ but it makes her feel warm inside, which is probably not a good sign. 

Gina’s not sure how long they’ve been talking, but it’s long enough for Nini to have woken up, because she comes into the living room in her silk pyjamas and looks at Ricky like he’s insane. “Why are you still here?” She asks, narrowing her eyes at Gina. 

“Talking to Gina.”

“Why?” Nini scrunches her nose like the idea of conversing with Gina is alien to her. Actually, it sort of is. 

“To figure her out.” He says, shooting Gina a lopsided grin. She hopes Nini isn’t looking at her, because Gina is almost positive she’s blushing. 

“Okay.” Nini says, sounding unconvinced. Probably doubtful that Gina has a personality. “Well, nobody asked you to stay. I’ll see you later.”

“I gotta go anyways,” Ricky says, grabbing his jacket from the hook. “See you.” He looks at Gina when he says that, not Nini, and Gina feels her heart soar. Stupid heart.

Nini clearly noticed the glance, because as soon as Ricky has left she stares at Gina with narrowed eyes. “I really like him.” She says. 

“Okay?” Gina feigns confusion, like she doesn’t understand Nini’s exact meaning. 

_He's mine_. That’s what Nini means. 

Gina tries not to think about Ricky’s smile at her as he left. It doesn’t work. 

Eventually, Ricky coming over on the weekend to take Nini out becomes routine. He talks to Gina on Saturday nights before they leave, and sometimes he makes her tea when she gets up in the morning. It’s nice. Besides the fact that he’s Nini’s almost-boyfriend and Gina maybe (definitely) has a crush on him. None of this would have happened if Carlos hadn’t gotten engaged. She’s decided to blame Carlos instead of her lack of foresight. He doesn’t mind.

Gina figures Ricky must really like Nini, because she brags about gifts he gives her in the rare moments that she and Gina interact, and he always seems to stick around no matter how often Nini tells him (in a very dramatic fashion, almost every time) to leave on Sunday mornings. Gina would tell him to find someone more tolerable, but it isn’t really her place, and Ricky clearly likes Nini a lot. 

One Saturday night, after a particularly gruelling shift at work, she’s awoken by the sound of the front door slamming. A quick glance at her phone tells her that it’s 1:43 AM. By the stomping of feet down the hallway and the slamming of another door, Gina knows she probably won’t be sleeping for a while. That’s confirmed when she hears show tunes full blast from Nini’s room.

Against all odds, however she must fall asleep, because she wakes up an hour later and the apartment is silent. At least it is until someone knocks on her door. Nini doesn’t knock, she normally sings to announce her presence, so it isn’t her. And it’s probably not a robber and/or murderer, because why would they knock?

“Hi, Giiiiiina.” It’s Ricky. Who sounds more than a little drunk. His silhouette is highlighted by the nightlight in the hallway, which Nini insisted Gina buy. Something about ambience. 

“Hi.” She says. “What are you doing?” Ricky snorts, stumbles slightly, sits down on her bed, and looks at her with his big brown eyes. 

“Sorry,” Ricky whispers, leaning towards her. Despite his drunkenness, his breath smells like honey. Stupid perfect Ricky. “Your door was open.”

“Okay.” Gina replies, trying to gauge if he thinks she’s Nini. 

“Okay.” Ricky repeats, smiling at her in the dark. He flops down next to her on the bed, leans his head on her shoulder. 

“Um.” Gina says. “Maybe you should go sleep with Nini?” 

Ricky’s only response is a snore, because of course he’s asleep, which isn’t even surprising, because her luck really is this fucking bad. Gina debates going to sleep in the living room as to not make Nini think she’s a vindictive witch stealing her roommate’s one true love, but she isn’t giving up her bed for a couch that she can’t fully lay across. She’ll just have to deal with Nini’s wrath tomorrow. 

The next day comes quicker than Gina would like. She wakes up to the morning sun streaming through the gaps in her curtains, no doubt opened by Ricky last night. Sure, it’s a slight shock to wake up with Ricky’s arms around her, but she gets over that pretty quickly, because something a lot more shocking is currently going on. Nini, who normally sleeps in until noon, is awake. Clearly moving around the kitchen, from the noise level. Gina untangles herself from Ricky, careful not to disturb him, and creeps into the kitchen, where Nini is packing the contents of the refrigerator into a Broadway-themed bag. Gina has to give it to her, Nini is nothing if not constantly on brand. 

“What are you doing?” Gina asks, but she almost doesn’t want to know. 

“I’m moving out.” Nini says, matter-of-factly. “You’re the worst roommate I’ve ever had.”

“I’m the only roommate you’ve ever had.”

“So?” Nini shakes her head as she puts Gina’s newly bought orange juice in her Broadway bag. “You leave your dance stuff everywhere, you come home way too late, you always buy groceries without asking me if I need anything, and you stole my boyfriend.” 

“I...What?” Gina is somewhat in awe of this situation, of the fact that somehow she’s the bad roommate. “I did what?”

“You stole Ricky.” Nini says, as she closes the refrigerator and grabs the fancy espresso machine, the only thing in the kitchen Nini (AKA Nini’s parents) bought. Gina doesn’t use it, but she’s offended that Nini is taking it anyways, simply on principle. 

“She didn’t steal me.” Gina hears Ricky say, and both she and Nini turn to face him. Even hungover, Ricky is beautiful, and despite his curls not being brushed, his hair still looks perfect. “We’re not dating, Nini.”

“We were going to eventually,” Nini huffs, glaring at Ricky. Gina’s relieved the scrutiny is no longer on her, but she would also rather be anywhere but here, listening to this conversation she’d really rather not be privy to. “And anyways, I told her I really liked you. So she knew.” 

Ricky is gaping at Nini, and Gina takes this moment of distraction to retreat to her room and pray they both miraculously disappear. Nini, because she’s probably on the verge of singing Burn from Hamilton and Gina would rather not hear her tearful rendition, and Ricky, because he might think Gina was actually trying to seduce him. Which she totally wasn’t. 

She hears some hushed conversation, something about Nini throwing Ricky’s car keys off the fire escape, and then the front door slams, and there’s silence. Well, momentary silence. Because someone, who has to be Ricky, knocks at her door. 

“Come in.” She tries to sound calm. Not absolutely terrified he’s going to accuse her of breaking him and Nini up. Or, like, pre-breaking them up? Gina is still sort of unclear as to what Ricky and Nini exactly were to each other. 

Ricky opens her door slowly, like he’s afraid she’s hiding behind it and it’s going to smack her in the face. Gina has never hidden, ever. Especially not like five minutes ago, so she has no idea where he got that idea from. 

“Hi.” She says, as he stands awkwardly in the doorway. “I figured you left.”

Ricky’s eyes flash with something Gina doesn’t quite recognize, and it’s gone before she can process it. “Still here.” He says, “Nini said she’d rather not have to face us as she packs up. Said she’d wait until you were out.”

“Huh.” Gina wanted Nini gone, sure. But she doesn’t quite know how to feel now that it’s actually happened. “Wow.”

“No more show tunes.” Ricky grins, though it doesn’t quite meet his eyes. Gina figures he’s upset about Nini ending their non-relationship. 

“No more show tunes,” Gina echoes, trying to find the right words to articulate what she’s thinking. “I wasn’t trying to steal you,” she wishes she was more convincing, “seriously.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ricky finally leaves the doorway to come to sit next to Gina on her bed, his eyes focused on some speck on the ceiling. “She was just being dramatic. We’ve known each other a long time, I think she just thought it was guaranteed we’d end up together.”

“Oh. Wow.” For all Nini’s talk of Ricky, Gina had no idea. 

“And I’m really sorry about last night.”

_Don't be._ Gina wants to say. But she doesn’t. “It’s okay. You were drunk, it happens.”

“You noticed.” Ricky says, “I was hoping I was more subtle than that.” He must feel her roll her eyes, because he laughs. “I’m kidding. And I really am sorry.”

“I’m sorry Nini threw your car keys off the fire escape.”

Ricky snorts. “I don’t know why she did that. It’s not like I drove back here last night. I was gonna have to take the bus home anyway.”

“For the sake of drama?” Gina suggests, delighting in the way Ricky outright laughs at that. “Why was she so mad at you, anyway?”

Ricky goes so still, for a second Gina thinks that he’s literally frozen. She doesn’t speak, neither does he. The silence should be uncomfortable, but they’ve gotten close enough in the past weeks that it feels almost nice. It probably shouldn’t.

“She accused me,” Ricky says finally, “of liking you more than I liked her.” 

Gina can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of that. “God, she’s so dramatic.”

“Thing is,” Ricky says, and Gina braces herself for his rejection, “she wasn’t wrong.”

“She...what?” Of all the scenarios Gina had prepared herself for, this is not one of them. And, to be honest, she’s not quite sure what to do.

Ricky finally looks at her, his brown eyes searching her face for some sort of reaction. “I like talking to you. We kinda get each other.”

“You like talking to me? As in you kept taking Nini to stupid theatre nerd parties because you wanted the opportunity to talk to me for like twenty minutes?”

“Well, you don’t like me, so it’s not like I could just ask you to hang out or something. That was just the logical solution.”

“Of course I like you, dumbass. You totally could have just asked me.”

Ricky grins, like he knew she was going to say that. “I figured,” he says. “But I wanted to hear you say it.”

“Well,” Gina replies, with absolutely no idea what to make of this. “If you still want to hang out with me, I am in need of a new roommate. So you could basically hang out with me every day and grow to despise me as Nini did.”

Ricky looks at her like she’s the biggest idiot on the planet. “Gina,” she loves it when he says her name, “I could never despise you. But it would also be sort of weird if I became your roommate.”

Ah, rejection. This is much more her speed. “Oh,” Gina replies, turning her attention to the pillow lying beside her. “Why would it be weird?”

“Because,” Ricky looks sort of nervous, though Gina can’t fathom why he would be, “I was sort of hoping that you’d let me take you out on a date sometime? Now that you like me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” Gina echoes.

“Yeah?” Ricky grins. “Cool. Wait. Were you saying yeah to the date or were you just saying yeah?”

“I was just saying yeah.” Ricky’s face falls. “But now I’m also saying yeah to the date.” His entire expression lights up, Gina’s never seen someone so beautiful. “As long as we don’t have to go to any parties with theatre majors.” 

“I never want to go to another one of those.” Ricky says, moving closer to her. Gina can feel her heart pounding. “I think I’d rather be anywhere else.”

“You’ll regret saying that when I make you watch my VHS of the original Broadway production of Cats.” She really does have a copy of it. One of her instructors said she could learn from their emoting. 

“I doubt it.” Ricky replies, and Gina kisses him with a ferocity that clearly catches him off guard, from the awestruck look he has when she pulls back. “I’ve wanted you to do that for a while.” He says, and Gina swears she can see a hint of pink dotted across his cheeks.

“I’ve wanted me to do that for a while too,” Gina says, “but I think Nini wants us gone so she can pack. And I still need a new roommate.”

“My best friend needs a place. He’s very small, so you could easily fight him.”

“Why would I need to fight him?”

“I don’t know,” Ricky replies, kissing her cheek. “Just in case.”

“You'd think after this I would learn to pre-screen my roommates, but I’ve learned nothing. He can move in as soon as Nini moves out.” Ricky laughs at that.

“Cool.” He responds, nudging her with his shoulder. “Any plans for today?”

Gina grins. “You. Me. Jane Austen movie marathon at my conveniently away friend’s house. He’s got a projector and two dogs who love me more than they love him.” That’s probably an exaggeration, but Carlos’s dogs do adore her. EJ says it’s because Carlos always lets her feed them.

Ricky smiles so wide Gina thinks her heart might burst. “Sounds good to me.”


End file.
